University & College Teaching

Select college and university-level courses designed and taught. For a complete list of teaching positions and specific courses taught, see CV.

While my research specialization is American art, when it comes to my semester-to-semester teaching, I am a generalist. This has turned out to be an unanticipated asset, because I am able to interpret works art, especially those of the United States, in light of broader artistic, social, and cultural patterns as they evolved over time, something I would never be able to do if I had retained a narrow focus.

Statement of Teaching Philosophy

 

Art of the United States: A Diverse History
(Lower-Division Introductory Survey Course)
College of Marin

This lecture course is a multicultural history of American art. Accordingly, we will define the field of “American art” to include works created by artists of Euro-American descent as well as by Native American, Asian American, African American, and Latinx artists and artisans. Individual lectures will interpret the construction, design, and imagery of objects produced by these individuals as expressive of deeply-held personal and communal values. These artists and their works will then be located in the large patterns in American history and as a result the history of American art will appear composed of multiple histories, each thread representing the conscious forging and maintaining of personal and collective identities in the face of social, political, and economic change. Art of the United States: A Diverse History Syllabus

 

The Saloon in American Culture: Life Behind Swinging Doors
(Undergraduate/Upper-Division Seminar)
American Studies, University of California, Berkeley

This seminar investigates the culture of the saloon, a unique American drinking establishment that emerged in the middle of the nineteenth century only to disappear with the passage of Prohibition. We will explore the social dimensions of saloons, focusing on the multiple purposes these gathering places served, mostly for men, who came together often because of class and/or ethnic affiliation. We will also attend to women, both in- and outside the saloon, paying particular attention to their relationships to the men behind and belly up to the bar. Because saloons varied by neighborhood and region, we will examine how local and regional issues shaped saloon culture, and how saloons in turn encapsulated, protected, and advertised community identity. Finally, we will consider the representation of saloons in popular culture. The Saloon in American Life Syllabus

 

History of Western Art: Medieval to Romanticism
(Lower-Division Introductory Survey Course)
College of Marin

A chronological survey of the art of Western Europe from the twelfth century to the early nineteenth century. This roughly seven hundred-year period includes one of the most exciting and far-reaching artistic developments in the western tradition, namely the Italian Renaissance. Accordingly, we will explore how the dramatic innovations in Italian art during the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries displaced the artistic norms of the Medieval period, and set the stage for later developments, including Mannerism, the Baroque, and Romanticism. Throughout the term, emphasis will be placed on developing each student’s “eye,” so that he or she is able to recognize and explain the formal features characteristic of the art of each period. In addition, equal focus will be placed on interpreting these stylistic differences in light of historical circumstances. We will therefore explore how changing social, political, and religious contexts encouraged artists to work in different styles and explore different subjects. We will also consider the role patrons played in shaping style and imagery. Finally, we will consider how artists have fashioned their careers in response to patrons, the artworld, and social values. The end of the semester Capstone Project for this course consists of a visit to San Francisco’s Legion of Honor Museum, where students will have the opportunity to apply the perceptual and intellectual skills they have developed over the term to a work of art the corresponds to the historical scope of this course. History of Western Art: Medieval to Romanticism Syllabus

 

Conquest, Assimilation, and Survival: Artists and Artisans in the American West
(Upper-Division Lecture Course)
History of Art Department, University of California, Berkeley,

This lecture course investigates Euro-American, Native American, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian American artists and artisans working in the American West from the Lewis and Clark expedition to the present. In the past, the art objects produced by individual artists and craftspeople from these different ethnic groups have been regarded primarily as expressions of individual skill, talent, or artistic genius. However, these same art objects can be read as expressive of the deep cultural values of their makers, and by extension of the outlook of their communities, especially if we keep in mind that all people construct and maintain their identity through the creation and use of objects, including photographs, paintings, pottery, and textiles. The visual qualities of these art objects thus speak to the values of the artist and his or his peers at the moment of the work’s creation. This course is thus organized as a series of chronological case studies, with each lecture focusing on how the formal qualities of art objects made by Euro-American, Native American, Hispanic/Latino, or Asian American artists and artisans express the maker’s identity within specific historical, geographic, social, and political circumstances of his or her life. By covering a two hundred year period of history, this course also investigates ways in which different male and female artists and artisans from these four groups have used various art forms to assert their gender and ethnic identity in response to changes in their material circumstances, political sovereignty, and economies of exchange. Art and the American West Syllabus

 

Vision and Modernity in Nineteenth-Century European and American Art
(Upper-Division Lecture Course)
History of Art Department, University California, Berkeley

This course investigates how artists working on both sides of the Atlantic incorporated new findings in the field of human vision that developed over the course of the nineteenth century. Indeed, the period’s scientific discoveries, technological innovations, urban expansion, as well as social, political, and intellectual revolutions all served to overturn long-standing assumptions about the way we see. These developments problematized picture-making in new and unexpected ways. Throughout the term we will study those artists who grappled with vision-related issues as they sought to create images that addressed the conditions of modernity. We will focus primarily on painting, but consideration will be given to photography and other forms of visual culture, including prints, optical toys, and motion pictures. Throughout the term, emphasis will be placed on critical looking. Vision and Modernity Syllabus

 

History of Western Art: Nineteenth and Twentieth-Centuries
(Lower-Division Introductory Survey Course)
College of Marin

This chronological survey of nineteenth- and twentieth-century art examines the major artistic movements of the period, from Romanticism to Abstract Expressionism to Pop and beyond. We will begin with developments in Europe, shift to the United States, and end with a global view. Throughout the term we will develop our “eye” for recognizing the key formal features of different artistic movements. At the same time, we will explore new artistic forms and processes and their relationship to social, economic, technological, scientific, intellectual, and political developments. For example, we will study how the innovations of Impressionism were predicated on new discoveries in the science of vision and optics, and how Surrealism was grounded in the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud. The end of the term Capstone Project for this course involves a visit to SFMOMA. There, students will encounter, up-close and in-person, a superb collection of nineteenth and twentieth-century works of art, and have an opportunity to put into practice the critical looking and thinking skills developed in the classroom over the course of the term. History of Western Art: Nineteenth and Twentieth-Centuries Syllabus

 

Outsider Art and Artists
(Undergraduate/Upper-Division Seminar)
History of Art Department, University California, Berkeley

The term “outsider artist” evokes the image of a frenzied creative type working at the margins of society. And yet, there exists today a whole series of established, mainstream institutions devoted exclusively to these artists: traditional and online galleries, a study center, a regularly published journal, even a museum with 55,000 square feet of exhibition space. It would seem, then, that the outsiders have become insiders. This seminar focuses on the paradoxical status of these artists, examining Outsider Art as a cultural phenomena that embodies the contradictions and complexities of modernity and postmodernity. We will begin the semester by locating the phenomena of Outsider Art within the appropriate histories. Then, through a series of case-studies, each focused on a single artist, genre, or theme, we will work to understand the frameworks by which these artists and their artwork is most often interpreted. Along the way, we will problematize prevailing interpretative strategies in order to formulate alternative approaches. Students will be expected to implement the insights gained through class discussions in a final class presentation and research paper. Outsider Art Syllabus

 

Memory, Identity, and Belonging: American and Its Public Arts
(Undergraduate/Upper-Division Seminar)
History of Art Department, University of California, Berkeley

This course considers the production and reception of public art in America from the Revolution to 9/11. It is organized as a series of case studies investigating how different forms of public art have engaged issues of memory, identity, and belonging. Discussing mural painting, sculpture, and architecture as well as more informal public art media, we will address not only the moments of creation, but also the presence of public art objects within daily life and popular culture. Public Art Syllabus